Waked & Buried

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“In proud and loving memory of Óglach Mickey Devine. Died 20th August 1981 in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh after 60 days on hunger-strike. Mickey was waked and buried from this house [in Rathkeele Way, Derry], the family home of his sister Margaret. Also died 30th March 2005.” For an image of the open coffin within the house, see this An Phoblacht article. Here is a Guardian interview with Margaret (Devine) McCauley.

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X02855 INLA final last tenth hunger striker

Keep Your Eyes On The Road

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Above is a piece from the Release The Pressure (Fb) streetart festival in London-/Derry in July, one side full of technicolour eyes by Vyal One (web | Instagram) and the other with swirls by ArtByEoin (web | Fb). If you know who the artist was, please comment or e-mail; there doesn’t seem to be much info on-line about this piece.

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Red Mick

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Michael “Mickey” (though here “Micky”) Devine was red-headed and was a founder member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in his native Derry (The Plough & The Stars) and also of the INLA (IRSP Derry). The mural on the gable shown above includes the socialist symbols of the red star and the plough, great bear (ursa major), or “big dipper” shining over the towers of Long Kesh, where Devine died on the 21st of August, 1981, after 60 days on hunger strike, the tenth and final striker to die.

The writing that can be seen faintly in the lower third (from a previous version of the mural) reads “They have served their British masters, the poor pathetic fools. They think that inhumanity and cruelty can break us. Haven’t they learnt anything? It strengthens us, it drives us on, for then more than ever we know that our cause is just. INLA Vol. Micky Devine, Long Kesh 1981”

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Roll Of Honour

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Mural in Derry commemorating members of Na Fıanna Éıreann, the youth wing of the IRA. The names are listed in the order of death, from earliest to latest, beginning with fifteen-year-old Gerald McAuley who was shot dead in Clonard (Belfast) in 1969, and ending with John Dempsey shot on the Falls Road (Belfast) in 1981.

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X02870 michael sloan eamonn mccormick gerard donaghey david mcauley sean oriordan michael magee joseph campbell john dougal tobias molloy joseph comiskey bernard fox sean hughes michael marley neal mccrory robert allsop james templeton kevin mccauley james o’neill paul mcwilliams brıogaid dhoıre 1909-2009 oglaıgh na héıreann fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na héıreann sunburst ógra shınn féın

Waterside, Cityside, Quayside

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The Peace Bridge is shown spanning the Foyle between (the former) Ebrington barracks and the Guildhall, with a film-strip of images, many depicting naval and military scenes, above and below. The detail below shows a gap in the walls of Derry, a poster encouraging people to “Join the Wrens [and free a man for the fleet]” (the Women’s Royal Naval Service; see the poster at IWM), soldiers playing ping-pong in their barracks, and the ship’s bell of the HMS Londonderry (which served as a training ship during the Falkland War (WP)).

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X02872 X02873 project funded reimaging communities programme supported by shared communities consortium lottery housing executive social development first minister deputy international fund for ireland derry londonderry doire

External & Internal

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Two images of graffiti in the Kildrum area of Derry. The first (above) sends messages to outsiders (or at least, directed at external pressures) — “Tıocfaıdh ár lá”, “End British Internment”, “Victory to the POWs”, and “RUC not welcome in Foylehill” — while the second, which is in a more secluded spot, contains many for internal audiences — “Drugs out”, “Bring back RAAD” (Republican Action Against Drugs | WP), “Kill Hoods”, “SF scum”, “Not a bullet, not an ounce” (a comment on IRA disarmament), as well as “Free Gaza!!” and “Israel scum”.

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Ulster Is Not For Sale

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Quiz: The UDA are called “Wombles” because they resemble the stop-motion characters of the BBC children’s show in (a) their fur-lined parkas, (b) their parading, or (c) their ability to acquire anything? You can find all three explanations on-line. Originally the name seems to have been a derogatory one, used by their UVF rivals, but it was adopted by the group itself. A close-up of the text on the right is below.

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X02748 X02747 when our forefather fought and died they led the way that we should go as loyalists united we should stand to send our message across the land that all our enemies would  know ulster is not for sale nor will we let it go no surrender quis separabit nelson drive auglish court

In A Foreign Land

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The [Sergeant] Lindsay Mooney Memorial Flute Band was formed in 1973 after the St. Patrick’s day death of Lindsay Mooney, a UDA member killed by the premature explosion of a bomb near Lifford, County Donegal (Sutton). The band dissolved in 1993 but commemorative nights are still held (NI World).

The board above is in the Lincoln Court area of Londonderry, from where Mooney and the band both hailed. “To those of us who criticise, to those who cannot see, just remember in a foreign land fell a better man than me.”

The Ballad Of Lindsay Mooney: youtube | lyrics

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